書評•評書｜《房思琪的初戀樂園》

We live in a society where "the Talk" is quite different from "the Talk" in Western books or movies. How do you translate "the Talk"?

Netflix電視劇《性教育》【Sex Education】裡充斥著經歷了「The Talk」的teenagers，隱晦的也好，直截了當的也好，模棱兩可的也好。西方社會中父母與孩子間什麼時候進行「The Talk」已經不再是諱莫如深的話題，需要遮遮掩掩；所謂的「那個談話」的初衷是為了保護孩子，讓孩子有足夠的知識，知道當一個人面對社會的時候怎樣保護自己，怎樣劃定自己的界限。好生羨慕！

電影《The Hate U Gave》的第一個鏡頭就是「The Talk」，然而，是一個非裔家庭之間的「The Talk」，這個“談話”是父母鄭重其事地告訴孩子，面對一個非裔群體依舊未完全被公平對待的社會，如果遇到警察，一定要把手放在警察看得見的地方，無論如何。隨後，顯然沒有經歷過「The Talk」朋友付出了生命的代價。在這裡，看似不一樣的「The Talk」，其實父母的初衷都是教給孩子，讓他們有足夠的知識，哪怕這「知識」是殘酷的，也要知道，從而以後一個人走向社會的時候知道怎樣保護自己，不再天真。是不幸，但又何其幸運！

遺憾的是，這兩種「The Talk」並沒有出現在「房思琪」的生命裡。她的「The Talk」大多是責備，甚至不需要責備，一個「你讓我失望了」的眼神就足夠；一聲「一個女孩子這樣讓我們父母操心」的嘆息就足夠；連她「一瞬間決定從此一輩子不說話了」的感受都是她的錯處；好真切，好不熟悉！那些「房思琪們」，本該來自父母的保護在哪裡？這個世界啊，為什麼大多數時候都是孩子在說「對不起」，孩子們究竟有多少能夠真正「傷害」到她們/他們的父母呢？

如果真能躲在英文裡，

發現生活的另一種形式，

那過去還會不會追上來？

溫良恭儉讓。

Finished this book months ago, but I haven't made peace with myself about the book.

It was a turbulence on the Internet due to the author's suicide as well as her parents' claim that the book is autobiographic. It's heart-breaking to read it, especially knowing she committed suicide at age of 26 right after publishing of the book. I could try to imagine parents knowing the truth, but where were they during the whole thing? A 13 years old girl got seduced and raped by her teacher / neighbour that her parents trusted to? Parents have not noticed a single sign for the disaster?

Throughout the book, I grew up with Fang Si-chi. It's sad, there was no help, no outer voice to her, instead, only the twisted Lolita complex growing inside of her. I could understood her choice of leaving this world. And no doubt, it is a wonderful book!

People compare it with Lolita, however, knowing how Nabokov created Lolita, it's a different situation. This book is based on pure pain and blood of a girl ignored by her parents, became the victim of society. They owe her a life, a childhood, an explanation.

【Review written on 07. 2017. 】